Quidditch - Snape - Predictions - SHIP: Ron liking Hermione - MM age

[Amy Z]

No: HPFGUIDX 29963

Whew!  Lots of catching up, and it's only been a couple of days!  I've 
divvied my responses up into 3 posts.

Jason wrote:

> Now what I want to know is why Gryffindor was forced to play against
> Ravenclaw while their seeker was in a coma in the hospital wing
> (PS/SS), while Slytherin is able to postpone games when their seeker
> gets a scrape on his arm? It would seem to me under the 
circumstances
> that Gryfindor should have been able to forfeit the game if not
> postpone it a week, rather than suffer their worst defeat in 100 
years
> (or whatever it was).

Aside from "because Slytherins, true to their cunning reputation, 
manage to wangle a lot of unfair advantages," I would say that 
rearranging the play schedule for the first game of the year because 
of an injury (PA) is possible, whereas an injury in the last week of 
the term (PS/SS) meets with a "tough luck."  There's no time to 
reschedule it and no one to swap with, Ravenclaw having already played 
its games against H and S.

MMMfanfic wrote:

> In the Shrieking Shack, my interpretation is that Snape did believe
> that he was saving the trio from two dangerous criminals at great
> risk of his own life.  And what did he get from those ungrateful
> brats?  They told him to stop interferring, that he was pathetic for
> trying to save their lives.  Especially that Potter boy.  That's
> Snape's POV, perfectly justifiable to me.

All fine so far, but Snape could have opened his ears, same as the 
kids eventually did, especially before carrying out a summary 
execution.  And in defense of Harry, he didn't say the bit about being 
pathetic until Snape had made it clear that there was going to be no 
trial, no explanation; even Lupin was going to be Kissed; things were 
pretty desperate.

David wrote:

> I love the debates we have, but when it comes to solving the
> mysteries JKR has posed, it's a game that I really hope we lose.

Amen.

Even if message #whatever turns out to be exactly right about, say, 
what Snape is up to, or why it's good news that Voldemort resurrected 
himself with Harry's blood, one thing is certain:  OoP will be 
chock-full of new ideas that none of us has dreamed of:  new 
creatures, spells, characters, etc.  :shivers with excited 
anticipation:

Tabouli wrote:

> I mean, think of the gloating factions that could pop up
> on this list if a theory of ours actually proved correct, such as 
those Snape-as-Vampire
> proponents 

Maybe a couple of weeks before OoP comes out, we should enter into a 
solemn covenant not to gloat.  It will particularly have to be renewed 
immediately before the release of book 7.  Shippers, you willing?

Cassandra Claire wrote:

> While I don't think
> that it is likely that the kiss at the end of GoF was more than
> friendly, I don't see it as indicative of a great interest in *Ron.*

I agree.  The part of the argument that makes sense to me is that it's 
indicative of a *lack* of romantic interest in Harry.  However, 
there's really no way to know.  All in all I think it's likely that 
she wouldn't have kissed him if she'd been longing to :wry grin at the 
miserable logic of teenage romance:, but she might have felt just that 
and is spending the summer tossing and turning and wondering if she 
should've been so forward.  (While Harry, of course, true to teenage 
boyhood, is completely preoccupied with the fact that his broomstick 
is locked in the cupboard.)

>I also see no indication that Ron likes Hermione previous to
 GoF.

There isn't, except in the light of his obvious (to me, but not, I 
realize, to Joshua) crush in GF.  It's not just running to Hermione's 
defense, which it's true, Ron does for everyone, even Neville.  It's 
little things like the fact that he's the one who's upset when she's 
petrified and thrilled when she's de-petrified.  It's all far from 
conclusive, but we can look back knowingly and say "this didn't 
develop out of thin air."  I'd do the same for many Harry-Hermione 
interactions of the first 4 books, *if* we ever got a glimmer that 
Harry had feelings for her *grin*.  It's like Cindy's Fridwulfa 
theory.  IMO we know nothing to connect Moody with Hagrid's history, 
but if we learned something in future books, then otherwise 
insignificant things like Hagrid applauding Moody's arrival, or 
otherwise-explained things like Moody and Hagrid going to the pub 
together, would take on new significance.

Heather Moore wrote:

>(Was Minerva MacGonagall in school with Tom? Or was she with the 
Weasleys?)

According to JKR, MM is in her 70s in the books, so she might have 
overlapped with Voldemort.  V was born c. 1927; if McGonagall is 70 
when Harry starts school, she was born in 1921.

Amy Z

-----------------------------------------------
 Ern jerked the wheel so hard that a whole
 farmhouse had to jump aside to avoid the bus.
              -HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban
-----------------------------------------------